aodhan j. fincher (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crosstuned) wrote2020-01-14 05:45 pm
crosstuned) wrote2020-01-14 05:45 pm
Entry tags:
sometimes it drips in a song and now it is gone
AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE
A world much like our own, modern day. Jonathan Fincher - named Aodhan, but known by Jonathan, his middle name, since the death of his mother in his mid-teens - is a depressed copywriter living alone in a flat somewhere outside of London. He once considered himself a musician and dreamt of pursuing music professionally, but thanks to burnout, time taken to recover from an arm injury, and financial troubles, he hasn't seriously touched an instrument in years. His relationships with family and friends are strained. He's aimless, just getting by, finding joy where he can but always struggling to hold onto it.
But suddenly, after two weeks of dropped communication with everyone he knows, there's a change in him. He carries himself a little differently, dresses with a little more care; trying something new, he says. He starts introducing himself as Aodhan again, asking people to call him that instead; a rekindled appreciation for the name his late mother loved, he says. He soon reduces his copywriting work and hunts himself down a job teaching piano, and it's as though he'd never stopped playing music; he never really stopped, he says, although the people closest to him - as well as his neighbours - would have sworn, before this, that he'd given up on it. But no, he takes up music again with fresh vigour. He gets his neglected viola repaired and starts looking for ensembles; whatever work he can get, he takes. He starts seeing his family and friends again, gradually — but not often, and never for long. He's different, but all things considered, it's a positive different. It's also kind of a weird different, to those that really know him. It's like the old Jonathan died and was reborn as Aodhan: a little off, maybe; forgetful of some specific events, personal and cultural; his memory affected by the breakdown he says he had that brought on this change, but ultimately doing better — how else do you rationalize a difference like that in a seemingly normal world?
❧
No one needs to know that the Jonathan they knew actually did die, or that the Aodhan they know now accidentally trapped himself here from another reality — a reality where he'd been watching Jonathan for weeks. They don't need to know that Aodhan has found, despite the horror of this situation, that he kind of prefers this world to the crushing weight of magically binding contracts and blackmail - and consequences for what he's done here, undoubtedly - in his own world, even if there are people there he misses dearly. And they certainly don't need to know where he hid the body. There is the fact that a spirit, most likely Jonathan's, may be haunting him, but surely that's just imagination, guilt, and the stress of continuing someone else's life while trying to make it his own.
But suddenly, after two weeks of dropped communication with everyone he knows, there's a change in him. He carries himself a little differently, dresses with a little more care; trying something new, he says. He starts introducing himself as Aodhan again, asking people to call him that instead; a rekindled appreciation for the name his late mother loved, he says. He soon reduces his copywriting work and hunts himself down a job teaching piano, and it's as though he'd never stopped playing music; he never really stopped, he says, although the people closest to him - as well as his neighbours - would have sworn, before this, that he'd given up on it. But no, he takes up music again with fresh vigour. He gets his neglected viola repaired and starts looking for ensembles; whatever work he can get, he takes. He starts seeing his family and friends again, gradually — but not often, and never for long. He's different, but all things considered, it's a positive different. It's also kind of a weird different, to those that really know him. It's like the old Jonathan died and was reborn as Aodhan: a little off, maybe; forgetful of some specific events, personal and cultural; his memory affected by the breakdown he says he had that brought on this change, but ultimately doing better — how else do you rationalize a difference like that in a seemingly normal world?
No one needs to know that the Jonathan they knew actually did die, or that the Aodhan they know now accidentally trapped himself here from another reality — a reality where he'd been watching Jonathan for weeks. They don't need to know that Aodhan has found, despite the horror of this situation, that he kind of prefers this world to the crushing weight of magically binding contracts and blackmail - and consequences for what he's done here, undoubtedly - in his own world, even if there are people there he misses dearly. And they certainly don't need to know where he hid the body. There is the fact that a spirit, most likely Jonathan's, may be haunting him, but surely that's just imagination, guilt, and the stress of continuing someone else's life while trying to make it his own.
THE TRUTH
Aodhan Fincher is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, occasional composer, and music teacher from a reality slightly incongruous with ours, where magic is being decried in public and studied in secret by the very people denouncing it. Those born with an inherent connection to the Immaterial Plane, mages, are largely viewed as unpredictable ticking time bombs; members of higher society, meeting in secret, believe that a connection gained through study, as it was before the increased emergence of mages about a century ago, is the only safe, true way to harness magic.
He grew up in a large family, with three sisters and one brother. From a young age, he showed an aptitude for and voracious interest in music; this, after a certain public performance in his early teens, caught the attention of a local Earl, the Lord Havelock - well-known for his interest in the arts, and for his somewhat eccentric ideas and inventions - who went on to sponsor Aodhan's music education right up into adulthood. (One of Aodhan's sisters, a talented pianist in her own right, was not offered this same benefaction, but she eventually found her own success and now lives with her wife in France.) Aodhan was able to do what he loved, was able to help with supporting his family, and appeared to have a straight shot into a bright future.
It seemed like an obvious, natural progression for him, after years of Havelock's support, to take on a job as a music tutor for the Earl's family, living in a cottage close by and working at the estate, performing in a quartet of Havelock's favourite musicians at parties and other events, sometimes composing in his free time. If Aodhan had dreamt of doing otherwise, the sense of obligation and loyalty certainly kept him from saying so.
( more coming! )
He grew up in a large family, with three sisters and one brother. From a young age, he showed an aptitude for and voracious interest in music; this, after a certain public performance in his early teens, caught the attention of a local Earl, the Lord Havelock - well-known for his interest in the arts, and for his somewhat eccentric ideas and inventions - who went on to sponsor Aodhan's music education right up into adulthood. (One of Aodhan's sisters, a talented pianist in her own right, was not offered this same benefaction, but she eventually found her own success and now lives with her wife in France.) Aodhan was able to do what he loved, was able to help with supporting his family, and appeared to have a straight shot into a bright future.
It seemed like an obvious, natural progression for him, after years of Havelock's support, to take on a job as a music tutor for the Earl's family, living in a cottage close by and working at the estate, performing in a quartet of Havelock's favourite musicians at parties and other events, sometimes composing in his free time. If Aodhan had dreamt of doing otherwise, the sense of obligation and loyalty certainly kept him from saying so.
( more coming! )
PERSONALITY
( more coming! )
PERMISSIONS
backtagging — yes pls • threadjacking — no • assumed cr — live for it • cross-canon/other ocs — yessss • mind-reading — yes; discuss first • touching — yes • shipping — with some buildup; ota • smut — maybe; established cr only • injury — yes • death — no thanks!
C
